During this holiday weekend as everyone plans out their backyard BBQs or packs for their camping trips, let's take a moment to remember why we have an extra day off work. I decided to read up on the history of Memorial Day and I discovered a couple of important characters in history that I had never heard of.

The first was General John (Black Jack) Logan from southern Illinois. No one is positive of Memorial Day's exact beginning but it was made official by General Logan as the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic on May 5th, 1868 when he issued General Order No. 11. It was originally called "Decoration Day" to honor those who died in the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression if you live in the South). The day chosen for Decoration Day was May 30th being a day that had no major Civil War battles. In General Logan's General Orders No.11 he declared the day

designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.

General Logan goes on to say:

Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.

Even though the first Decoration Day included around 5,000 attendees and a speech at Arlington National Cemetery by President Garfield, New York was the first state to officially recognize the holiday in 1873. By 1890, all northern states recognized the day, but southern states refused and instead had separate days to honor their Civil War dead until after WWI when the holiday was redefined to honor those who died in any war instead of just the Civil War.

For decades, Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30th each year until Congress passed the Uniform Holiday Act in June 1968, moving four holidays from their traditional date to a specified Monday to create some three day weekends for those overworked government employees. The law went into effect in 1971 but there is a strong movement to get Memorial Day changed back to May 30th because, as the VFW puts it

Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.

The second and third unknown (to me) historical figures I ran across contributed to the tradition of red poppies on Memorial Day. Moina Michael penned a short poem inspired by the famous poem "In Flanders Fields" in 1915 and then had the idea to wear red poppies on Memorial Day. She started selling them to raise money for servicemen in need of assistance and the idea spread. When a visitor from France, Madam Guerin, learned of the tradition, she began making artificial poppies and selling them to support those orphaned by war. Madam Querin is the one who eventually approached the VFW for assistance and they began their "Buddy" Poppy program to raise money for disabled veterans in the 1920s.

Today, Memorial Day seems to have lost some of its importance, but is still marked by ceremonies in towns everywhere. I hope you will go find one near you or find some way to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country as well as think of those family members they left behind.

I've read several minimalist blogs about how people travel the world with nothing but a small backpack. Tynan, for example, is one of my heroes who lives in a Winnebago and spends a few months each year traveling the world with a 19 liter backpack. He wrote a book called (Warning: Amazon affiliate link ahead) Life Nomadic that I've been meaning to read. That all sounds great, but unfortunately my family doesn't travel light. No matter how much I plead with my kids not to pack an extra bag full of stuffed animals, our car always seems filled to capacity when we head out on vacation. I even had to buy one of those rooftop luggage carriers for the top of our SUV.

Unfortunately, because we always have a carload of stuff, I didn't even realize that we headed out on our vacation last summer without my oldest son's suitcase. That's right. We left for a 10 day trip through five states with my son's suitcase sitting on his bedroom floor. The fact that his bedroom floor is so covered that no one noticed a suitcase laying among the Nerf guns, Legos, sheet music, and Erector Set components is another part of the problem. Luckily for him though, he did have some clothes with because we were stopping for two nights at my in-law's house. I refuse to bring everyone's suitcase in from the car when we are only staying somewhere for a night or two as part of a longer trip. For that reason, we pack one overnight bag that has just what we need for that short stop. Since we were spending two nights he at least had a pair of pajamas and a couple days worth of clothes. That evening after we got to my in-law's house, I ran out to a store to buy him a few more clothes. For long trips like this, I often will also pack one bag just for swimming. That way we have all of the swim suits, towels, swim goggles, and sunscreen together and can easily find them. Each of the kids also packs a backpack with things to keep them entertained in the car. Honestly, it would have been far more tragic for all of us had he left his backpack at home, so given the choice between his suitcase and the backpack-o-fun, I'm glad he left the clothes at home.

Miraculously, my son survived the ordeal unscathed and when we returned home I made a point to talk to the kids about how he managed to get by without all of that stuff he had packed in his suitcase. I'm not sure any of them got the message, but we'll find out this summer when we do it all over again. So the next time you're packing for a trip, think hard about whether you really need to lug all of that stuff around.

I suggest two things to help you pack:

First, have a list of what you need so you don't forget things that really are necessary. We keep a spreadsheet with several tabs. Each tab is for specific types of trips (e.g. a vacation involving air travel and staying in a hotel, a weekend road-trip to my in-laws, a long road trip that encompasses a hotel stay as well as visits with relatives). Each family member has their own color-coded column on each list. The colors are for the type of bag (e.g main suitcase, backpack, toiletry bag, etc.). Several days before a trip we'll print the appropriate list and add any specifics to it like a gift for the birthday party you're going to.

Second, pack what you think you need and then going back through what you've just packed and decide what you can pull back out. We don't put quantities on our lists because it will change depending on the length of the trip.

While writing this, I found the website http://www.onebag.com/. Take a look there for a good explanation of the benefits of traveling light as well as recommendations on how to do it including lots of checklists. Good luck.

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